


When You Lose Your Marbles

by dragonwings948



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Audio 08: Enemy Aliens, Cute, Kissing, No Plot/Plotless, Nonsense, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Scatterbrained Doctor, Silly, Surprise Kissing, THAT'S EIGHT AND CHARLEY, That's it, Unrequited Love, i can't believe that's a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25351126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonwings948/pseuds/dragonwings948
Summary: The first time the Doctor kissed Charley out of nowhere, she wasn't quite sure what to think.
Relationships: Eighth Doctor & Charley Pollard
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	When You Lose Your Marbles

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the part in Enemy Aliens where Eight tries to kiss Charley for being awesome; the way she sidesteps him so neatly just proves that it's happened before, as my friends were good enough to point out (hi guys)! I'm still amazed at how the concept is simultaneously super cute and so sad at the same time.

Charley found the Doctor in a room filled only with filing cabinets.

The time lord was on his knees rifling through drawers like a madman, picking up and throwing several objects (that rather unsurprisingly weren’t files at all) across the room. “No. No! Definitely not it.”

As Charley entered, she barely missed walking straight into a porcelain doll that had been hurled from across the room. She ducked and the doll crashed to the ground, shattering into a thousand pieces.

“Doctor!” She neatly sidestepped a pile of discarded musical instruments and edged closer to him.

“Nope!” He tossed a pair of giant knitting needles over his shoulder and Charley narrowly avoided being impaled.

“Doctor!” she tried again.

He finally paused and looked up at her. “Not now, Charley. I’ve lost something very important.”

She crouched by his side as he rummaged through another drawer. “What is it?”

“Well, it’s something important.”

“Yes, you said that.” She considered his evasive answer. “Do you happen to actually _know_ what it is you’re looking for?”

He didn’t answer for a moment.

“Doctor?”

“All right, _no._ I’ve forgotten. I just suddenly realised there was something very important in here that I needed to find.”

Charley gazed at the rows upon rows of cabinets that filled the room. “It could take months to find whatever it is!”

“Nonsense! I know I’ll find it soon if I just keep looking.”

Charley sighed, but seeing as he wasn’t going anywhere soon, she figured she might as well help. She stood and pulled open a drawer at random. She wrinkled her nose at the musty smell that assaulted her nose. She pulled out some yellowed pages— _was that an original Beethoven score?—_ cast a rubber ball behind her, and pulled out an empty green wine bottle. The latter made her snicker.

“You didn’t think to share, Doctor?”

He glanced over at her. “Oh, I emptied that out lifetimes ago. A night out with William Shakespeare—I think.”

Charley rolled her eyes. It was likely that anything she asked him about was sure to be associated with some famous historical figure. She set down the bottle and the sheet music before returning to the drawer. She pulled out a drawstring sack, the contents inside clinking as she brought it up to her eyes. She wiggled the bag in her hand and tested the weight—definitely marbles. She was about to pile them with the rest of the discarded items when the Doctor exclaimed:

“Charley!” He shot to his feet and grabbed the sack of marbles from her hand. “Charley, you’re brilliant!”

And before she really knew what was happening, the Doctor put a hand on the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his. Charley let out a muffled squeak of surprise, completely caught off guard. Her heart seemed to instantly begin to race ten times faster. Heat flooded her cheeks. She completely froze up. Before she could even think about submerging her fingers in his curls or taking a step closer, the Doctor had already pulled away, wearing a wide grin.

Charley blinked at him. The Doctor didn’t even seem to notice that anything out of the ordinary had happened as he poured the marbles into his palm. “This is exactly what I was looking for! How did you know?”

It took a moment for Charley to rearrange her thoughts enough to speak coherently. “I didn’t, I—hold on.” Some sense came crawling back into her brain. “Are you really, _seriously_ telling me that you lost your marbles?”

“Not just _any_ marbles, Charley. I got these on the casino on Tordinello Six! Oh, that was a day.” He grinned down at the blue glass marbles as the light played off of subtle sparkles within them.

Charley tried not to think about the hurt she felt at his complete refusal to acknowledge what had just happened. He’d—he’d _kissed_ her for goodness sake! But it hadn’t meant anything to him. It had just been an expression of happiness and appreciation, nothing more.

So Charley indulged him, let him explain about the day he’d won the oh so precious marbles. But as she watched him, as carefree and exuberant as a child, she wondered if he would ever truly understand love.


End file.
